OXNARD — iFoster, in partnership with the Ventura County Human Services Agency (VCHSA), will host a Ventura County iFoster Resource Fair from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 27 at All Saints Episcopal Church, 144 So. C St., Oxnard, VCHSA reported in a media release.
Foster, adoptive and kinship caregivers (both formal and informal) in Ventura County will gain additional knowledge, support and connection to free and discounted services available to them through the launch of a new online, self-service resource portal called the iFoster Resource Portal, http://www.ifoster.org/Registration.aspx, agency officials reported.
“Our goal is to help provide critical resources and support to foster and adoptive families in the community,” Barry L. Zimmerman, director of the Human Services Agency of Ventura County, stated in the release. “With 1 in 11 children in the U.S. living in foster or kinship care, families don’t always know where to turn for help financially or emotionally. We’re excited to see the launch of the iFoster Resource Portal and to have it supported by a local Ventura County collaborative made up of iFoster, VCHSA and community partners. This ensures that more families will receive the assistance and support they need.”
During the fair families will learn more about the resources in the portal and have an opportunity to register. Some of the resources included are: free online tutoring and homework help through Live Homework Help, discounted driver’s training through Driversed.com, low cost orthodontics through Smiles Change Lives, support groups, clothing, food and recreational activities.
Research from the Children’s Bureau has shown that relative and foster caregivers are not receiving services and resources that are available to them, agency officials reported. These vital services help foster families and kinship families (grandparents or relatives raising other family member’s children) close the gap between the costs of raising children and the needed services and programs they are eligible for such as educational support, health coverage, parenting help, child care and more. Often foster and kinship families are not aware of how to access to this support.
The fair is partially supported by the United Ways of California kinship navigator project, and funded through Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau grant.
iFoster, a nonprofit organization, comes into various communities and offers kinship and foster families an online portal to these needed services that can be educational and life-changing tools for vulnerable children and youth in their care, officials reported.
To register on iFoster, visit www.iFoster.org and complete the short registration process. Call 855-936-7837 for more information.